But the 44-year-old Hawaiian pro surfer had no intentions to do so when he woke up that morning in Portugal, the Associated Press reports.

McNamara soon changed his mind after some encouragement from friends. Luckily he listened, because the 5-foot-10-inch surfer made it through the ginormous wave tube just as the swell smoothed out.

The Associated Press reports:

“I knew it was big, but I didn’t know how big,” he said.

McNamara said he didn’t care at first about whether the wave was a record, but was urged by the townspeople in Nazare, Portugal, to get some kind of confirmation. He said he sent the footage and pictures to surfing legend and Billabong judge Sean Collins, who guessed the wave was 85 to 90 feet tall. Collins died in December.

McNamara’s November ride got him more than a record breaking title; it also $15,000 last week from the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in California.

Judges examined photos and video footage to determine the award. The AP reports that they used the height of McNamara’s surfing crouch and the length of his shin bone to calculate the size of the wave.